Saturday, March 19, 2011

Icelandic, Crossbred and Jacob Sheep - none of our Jacobs are currently registered, though they are descended from JSBA Registered stock.Dapper Dan (2008 Ram, 2-horn) - $125 - Laffing Horse Betelgeuse X Laffing Horse Basil - Dan is our current herdsire and sire of many beautiful ewes who are staying in the flock. Among them are First, Flora, Fiona, Grace, Greta. His lambs are so well-marked and have such nice fleeces that we have kept some of his sons as fiber wethers - Flash, George and Nibbles. His daughter Filigree is also for sale. Laffing Horse Cocoa (2007 Ewe, 2-horn) - $125 - Stapleton Farm Homer X Laffing Horse Bobbin - Cocoa is a big chocolate colored ewe who lambs easily and grows a good 8 lb fleece every year. She is currently bred to Dapper Dan for early April lambs. Laffing Horse Dorie - (2008 Polled Ewe) - $125 - Stapleton Farm Homer X Laffing Horse Cowslip - This spotted ewe grows a thick 8-plus pound fleece. She is a good mother and was bred to Dan for late March lambs.Laffing Horse Mouse - $75 - (2007 fiber wether, scurred) - Stapleton Farm Homer X Laffing Horse Button, This large dark brown half-jacob, half-corriedale wether has been a family pet all his life. His heavy fleece is medium-fine and spins up nice for outerwear.Havencroft Filigree - $75 - (2010 Four-horned ewe) - Dapper Dan X Laffing Horse Clementine - Filigree has not been sheared yet, but looks like she will have a nice fairly fine fleece. She has broken all of her horns and one time or another, so they are different sizes. Chalcedony - $125 - (two-horned white Icelandic) - Currently bred to Dan for April lambs. We bought this ewe in 2007, right after we moved to Arkansas. She was young then, perhaps a two year old. She has a very nice double-coated fleece and needs to be sheared twice a year. She really needs to be in a flock that is on pasture, she gets way too fat on our regimen of grass hay and some grain.Dorie’s Boy or Cowslips Boy - (2010 2-horned wethers) $75 ea. after shearing. These two jacob wethers have nice fleeces and have been raised without antibiotics.Dairy Goats Bottle Baby Buck kids - $10 ea. - commercial grade dairy goats. excellent milk stock, currently one available, more as they are born.We may have some good does and does kids for sale as the season progresses. Contact me at jenonthefarm@gmail.com if you are looking for milk goats.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I just got finished settling Cricket and her new twins into the jug pen (a walled and roofed pen about 8x8, warm and cozy for new moms to relax and get to know their new babies and for babies to learn who is their mommy). Pictures will be on the way in a day or two. They just don't come out real well when you take them outside at 2 in the morning.
They have rather loud voices, so the neighbors checked outside at least once and now the sheep flock and the dairy goat flock think that I really ought to feed them a midnight snack, since they are all up anyway. It's nice of the angoras to sleep through it all.
Her babies this year are a splashy colored buck and a creamy white doe. The buck will be ready to head to a new home in a few days as a bottle baby. I think the little girl will be Geode, but I might think better of that by the light of day.
Beanie had her kid last night. A sweet little red doe that we named Ginger.
Our flocks have lambed and kidded mostly in the daylight for years. I don't know what's changed them this year. At least we've been blessed with good strong kids and lambs.
I hear babies crying... back out to check and then hopefully back to bed for a bit.
Got a really busy few days coming up at work and in the Guild.

About me

As a fiber artist and shepherd, my daily life is full of stories. The joy of helping lambs into this life gets woven into the newest shawl on my loom. Sorrows and hard times are spun away on a drop spindle. Some of the stories make it into print here - and other times, I am so busy just living this life that I can't sit down to write on a computer!